I think my HD has died...

[Evil_Eye]

Hi.

Last week my sz laptop started going really slowly. i look in task manager and system idle process was taking 90-99% of my cpu.

I rebooted and the same occured.

I defragmented my disks, ran msconfig to check if there was anything unusual and rebooted.

This time i got a warning saying "smart hard disk failure predicted. back up your data and replace your hard disks immediately".

This didnt sound good, so i backed up my data onto my desktop, then put in my vaio recovery cd. it ran to around 20%, then the hd made a clicking sound, and i recived an error message saying "Cannot perform the recovery because the HDD cannot be found". I tried again a couple of times to the same message.

Then i got my xp disk for my desktop, ran the format tool in that to get the message "cannot read hard disk. pleas ensure it is connected properly". Unfortunately, the recovery tool got far enough to wipe the os, but not recover it, so now i can only get to the bios menu.

so now im a little stuck. my laptop is still under waranty, but id rather keep that as a last resort.

Any ideas?

[Blencogo]

Hi Evil-Eye,

Which SZ model do you have - you probably have a SATA drive which complicates the installation process as your XP disc cannot find your hard drive without installing the SATA drivers.

The System Idle process running at near to 100% is normal if your Vaio is not using any other programs.

Try tapping F10 when you boot the Vaio at the first Vaio screen and this should start the Recovery Utility and reinstall your original operating system - unless your HDD is really sick!!

[Evil_Eye]

Hi Evil-Eye,

Which SZ model do you have - you probably have a SATA drive which complicates the installation process as your XP disc cannot find your hard drive without installing the SATA drivers.

The System Idle process running at near to 100% is normal if your Vaio is not using any other programs.

Try tapping F10 when you boot the Vaio at the first Vaio screen and this should start the Recovery Utility and reinstall your original operating system - unless your HDD is really sick!!

 

system idle process was at 90-99 even wen using other programs, and it was really slow to boot (like 2mins).

vgn-sz1m/b btw.

[seb21__]

Hmmm, I had same problems with the brandnew harddisk of my desktop PC. (no clickings but missed harddisk). Many CRC errors probably because of a bad connection and one read error.
Bad connections can force your harddisc to run in PIO mode. Which is really slow.


I've replaced the sATA cable and did a low level format. Now it works fine.
Low level formats are a risky but it will remove all bad sectors of your hardisk.
Depending to the HDD size it will take hours and don't think about to abort the process.

You have to know the manufacturer of your harddisk to download the needed tool. And probably a bootable USB floppy drive if. So, try it before you're going to replace your HDD. (when your warranty is allready over)

[Evil_Eye]

I deleted the recovery partition after i made my recovery disks.

I think ill talk to sony customer support before i do anything else.

[seb21__]

Good Idea. :smileyblush: